How Do I Add More Than One Network Ethernet Adapter (VMware
Player: Windows)

If your host Windows system is configured with more than
one physical network adapter (Wired or
Wireless) one can enable up to 4 network
ethernet adapters with VMware Player. A NST Virtual
Machine running under VMware Player host control can
utilize each of the 4 network interfaces by running a different
network/security application on each one of them.

The following sections cover the details on how to
configure additional physical network adapters to be used with a
NST Virtual Machine under a Windows-based VMware Player
host.

The preconfigured Windows "vmx"
VMware Player configuration file:
"nst-vm-windows-2.11.0.vmx" has 4 network ethernet
interfaces already defined. Network interface:
"eth0" will start in a
"connected" state while network interfaces:
"eth1", "eth2" and
"eth3" will be started in the
disconnected state. Network interface:
"eth3" also has its
"present" state set to
"false". This allows for audio and sound
usage with NST. If audio is not required, one can enable the
"present" state to
"true" for this interface. The connection
type (connectionType) for each defined
network ethernet interface is set to:
"custom".

The following shows the predefined ethernet interface
settings within the Windows "vmx"
VMware Player configuration file:
"nst-vm-windows-2.11.0.vmx":

Each defined network adapter will assume a globally unique
"MAC" address when the NST Virtual
Machine is first booted up. This allows for multiple NST
Virtual Machine instances to exist on the same physical
network subnet without duplicate "ARP"
entries being discovered.

The following shows an example of the globally unique
"MAC" addresses and the
"UUID" generated after the first time the
NST Virtual Machine is started. This is typically generated at
the end of the Windows "vmx"
VMware Player configuration file:
"nst-vm-windows-2.11.0.vmx"

A mapping for each physical network adapter to a
VMware Player virtual network adapter needs to occur. The
preconfigured Windows "vmx"
VMware Player configuration file:
"nst-vm-windows-2.11.0.vmx" has already defined the
following logical ethernet to virtual network adapter
mapping:

"eth0" <=> "vmnet0"

"eth1" <=> "vmnet2"

"eth2" <=> "vmnet3"

"eth3" <=> "vmnet4"

Use the "vmnetcfg.exe" Windows
VMware Player "Virtual Network
Editor" found in the top level directory where the
VMware Player was installed to perform the physical to
virtual network adapter mapping. Each mapping will be associated
with a "Bridged" connection type.

Lets use a Windows VMware Player host system
configured with 2 physical network ethernet adapters
(a "3Com" and a "Xircom
CardBus" adapter) to demostrate a physical to
virtual network adapter mapping example:

Once you have completed mapping each network adapter then
use the "Virtual Network Editor" Summary
tab to review your work:

Figure 13.4. Virtual Network Adapter Summary Window

***Note: There is a special usage for virtual
network adapter: "vmnet1" and "vmnet8". Adapter:
"vmnet1" is used for a "Host-only" connection and adapter:
"vmnet8" is used for a "NAT" connection type.

Finally, after the NST Virtual Machine is started you will
need to enable the additional network adapter you have just
added for this guest virtual machine. It will most likely be in
a disconnected state. Use the
VMware Player menu bar to enable the virtual
ethernet device by changing its state to:
connected.